The viewscreen aboard the USS Enterprise-D with a targeting reticule, 2364

Typically used to display images of the area immediately around or in front of a starship, the viewscreen could provide views from all directions, as well as call up data from the library computer. It was also essential in ship-to-ship communication, allowing face-to-face conference if so desired, utilizing subspace and other communications systems. Visual contact, however, could only be achieved when in visual range. Intra-ship communications were also possible, though the main viewer was rarely used for this function. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier; TNG: "Ship in a Bottle"; VOY: "The Cloud")

When necessary, the image on the viewscreen could be magnified - 24th century starships easily gaining a magnification of 106. The image could also be augmented, with the ship's computer displaying extrapolated images or graphics displaying sensor data. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; ENT: "Broken Bow")

Starfleet

NX-class

The main viewer aboard Enterprise NX-01

Installed as early as 2151 aboard Starfleet vessels including NX-class starships, the viewscreen was located on the front bulkhead of the main bridge. Rectangular in shape, the main viewer aboard these vessels provided a wide screen view of the space around the ship, as well as visual communications. They were capable of processing multiple inputs simultaneously, as was sometimes seen when two or more parties wished to have a joint conversation with Enterprise.

Muroc and Telev in a multi-party communication on Enterprise viewscreen

Dialog in "Balance of Terror" suggests that 22nd century starships that fought in the Earth-Romulan War were without viewscreens, or at least incapable of visual communications. While this supposition was natural, Star Trek: Enterprise clearly established viewscreen technology present on United Earth vessels, as well as aboard Andorian ships, Klingon ships, and many others, while the Romulans seemingly did not (or chose to communicate through audio only).

Constitution-class

Returning to the same basic shape of the 22nd century viewscreen, the main viewer utilized aboard such 23rd century Starfleet vessels as the Constitution-classUSS Enterprise was mounted at the front of the main bridge and was generally rectangular in shape.

Though a smaller viewscreen (utilized as early as 2254) would be supplanted by a larger one in 2266, the viewscreen aboard the Constitution-class vessel generally displayed images with a blue outline and featured a number of controls mounted to the left and right of the monitor. Capable of the same function as previous versions, this viewscreen model could also be used to display sensor data from within the starship, call up cross sectional diagrams of the ship itself, and display data re-routed from other stations. (TOS: "The Cage", "The Menagerie, Part II", "Where No Man Has Gone Before"; ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II"; TOS: "Spock's Brain")

The iconic viewscreen from The Original Series would be the basis for all other versions seen after in the movies or spin-off TV series. The chase lights seen at the bottom of the screen were not present during the two pilot episodes, but were present with the debut of the more standard viewer in "The Corbomite Maneuver".

One of the main foci of the remastering effort was the replacement of most images seen on TOS viewscreens.

Alternate reality

Viewscreen of the alternate Enterprise

In the alternate reality caused by Nero, the USS Enterprise's viewscreen continued the Kelvin-type design. Its viewscreen was a single window the height of a crewmember, that could have images projected on it. (Star Trek)

Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman created the combination window/viewscreen in order to justify the placement of the bridge at the top of the ship: "...it was based on the odd fact that, although the bridge didn't usually have a window, it was nonetheless situated, much like a naval ship, at a high look out vantage point (which, by the way, seems unnecessarily vulnerable to attack). Rather than move the bridge, we added a window to justify its location."[1]

Movie versions of the main viewer aboard the Enterprise remained fairly consistent, until the destruction of the original starship and its replacement with the USS Enterprise. That ship again featured the familiar chase lights below the monitor as well as a somewhat anachronistic clock. For its appearance in Star Trek V, the screen (at times) utilized rear-projected images rather than post-production burn-ins. It was reused as the viewscreen aboard the USS Excelsior and USS Enterprise in The Undiscovered Country and Star Trek Generations with some cosmetic changes.

Galaxy-class

While not projecting solid holographic images, the viewscreen installed on the main bridge of such vessels as the USS Enterprise-D displayed three-dimensional images, as though observing the image with the naked eye.

Larger than that of the Constitution- or Excelsior-class starships, the viewscreen aboard the Galaxy-class starship featured touch-sensitive controls at the bottom of the screen. Using high resolution, multi-spectral imaging sensor systems and could also be controlled from a panel on the right arm of the command chair or at the ops or tactical stations. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint")

While it is a subtle effect, the viewscreen seen throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation clearly displayed 3-D images. This effect was created in some scenes by providing multiple angles on the viewer, with the image on screen displayed at a corresponding angle, rather than a flat, single angle shot.

Defiant-class

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Slightly smaller in size, the Intrepid-class viewscreen also differed from those of the Galaxy-class in that a hologrid was present behind the displayed image. When damaged or deactivated, a hologrid, much like that in the ship's holodeck, appeared on the bulkhead. (VOY: "Year of Hell, Part II")

While it most likely employed the same technology as the viewscreen aboard the Enterprise-D, the viewer seen on Star Trek: Voyager is the only screen to so apparently utilize a hologrid.

Sovereign-class

The main viewer aboard the USS Enterprise-E

One of the more unusual viewscreen designs of the 24th century, the main viewer aboard the Sovereign-classUSS Enterprise-E utilized a holographic image projected onto the front bulkhead of the main bridge.

While most viewscreens aboard Federation vessels of the era did use holographic technology, the images they displayed were generally projected within a clearly defined screen area. Not so aboard the Enterprise-E, with the viewscreen appearing from only a small area of projection systems near the floor of the forward bulkhead. When deactivated, the image projected disappeared, leaving only a blank wall in its place. (Star Trek: First Contact)

This was the only incident in which a Borg viewscreen was shown, all other occasions (such as in "Scorpion, Part II") portrayed smaller monitors within the Borg cube. It is likely that such a screen was erected for the newly assimilated Locutus, as the Borg collective consciousness seems to negate any need for one.

Installed aboard Galor-classwarships and Terok and Empok Nor-type stations, these Cardassian viewers consisted of hollow, oval-shaped frames. Images were projected into these frames, then disappeared when the viewer was deactivated.

This same technology was employed in the construction of Cardassian-type viewers. (DS9: "Emissary")

Quark's had the option for a large Cardassian style viewscreen to be placed directly in front of the large glass mural in the bar. (DS9: "Rivals")

Dominion

Point-of-view of a Jem'Hadar virtual display device.

Jem'Hadar ships eschewed traditional viewscreens for a virtual display device. Instead of occupying the forward wall of the bridge, the "viewscreen" was in fact a display within a headset worn by the navigator. The device was not well-tolerated by Humans, who could typically wear it only for short periods. Cardassians, by contrast, were shown to have similar tolerances to Jem'Hadar and Vorta.

Consisting of screens smaller than those used by the Federation and Klingon Empire, Romulan viewscreens (like that of the IRW Khazara) were rounded-off square shapes, accented with green rectangles at the top of the monitor.

As with most starships, the viewscreen was mounted on the forward bulkhead of the main bridge aboard Romulan vessels. (TNG: "Face of the Enemy")

Vulcan

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The viewscreen at the Vulcan High Command

Appendices

See also

Background information

In early design drafts for both the USS Voyager and the USS Defiant, the designers contemplated eliminating the viewscreen entirely. Attempts such as the holo-communicator in DS9 and the suspended-in-mid-air viewer in First Contact were made, but ultimately gave way to tradition. The viewscreen was considered an important staple of the Star Trek universe.

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